We will play a trick on the old abbot."
The boat was low-ered. Strong arms soon rowed it to the Inchcape Rock.
Then the robber, with a heavy ax, broke the chain that held the buoy.
He cut the fas-ten-ings of the bell. It fell into the water. There
was a gur-gling sound as it sank out of sight.
"The next one that comes this way will not bless the abbot," said
Ralph the Rover.
Soon a breeze sprang up, and the black ship sailed away. The sea
robber laughed as he looked back and saw that there was nothing to
mark the place of the hidden rock.
For many days, Ralph the Rover scoured the seas, and many were the
ships that he plun-dered. At last he chanced to sail back toward the
place from which he had started.
The wind had blown hard all day. The waves rolled high. The ship was
moving swiftly. But in the evening the wind died away, and a thick fog
came on.
Ralph the Rover walked the deck. He could not see where the ship was
going. "If the fog would only clear away!" he said.
"I thought I heard the roar of breakers," said the pilot. "We must be
near the shore."
"I cannot tell," said Ralph the Rover; "but I think we are not far
from the Inchcape Rock. I wish we could hear the good abbot's bell."
The next moment there was a great crash.
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